1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a socket for electrical parts for detachably holding electrical parts such as a semiconductor device (which is called herein as an “IC package”) or the like, to conduct electrical test and examination of the electrical parts. The present invention also relates to a method for using the socket for the electrical parts.
2. Related Art of the Invention
As a conventional socket of this kind, there have been an IC socket as a “socket for electrical parts” for conducting a burn-in test or the like of the IC package by detachably accommodating the IC package as an “electrical parts” on the socket.
The IC socket has a socket body on which the IC package is accommodated and in which a plurality of contact pins are disposed. To the socket body, a cover member is attached to be opened and closed for pressing the IC package.
The burn-in test or the like on the IC package can be carried out by previously mounting the IC socket on the printed circuit board, then opening the cover member and accommodating the IC package on the socket body, and then closing the cover member to establish an electrical connection between the IC package and the printed circuit board through the contact pin. In this state of the IC package, the burn-in test is carried out.
The IC package has a package body molded from resin, on which terminals are exposed. The terminals having an elongated shape are extended from a lateral side of the package body and having a various type such as a plate-type, gull wing-type or L-shaped type etc. There is also other type of terminals—for example a plate-type, a spherical-type or a rod-type terminal—which is exposed on a lower surface of the package body.
These packages are in some cases produced through a process in which a plurality of IC packages are formed in a long combined unit. In these cases, independent IC packages are produced by cutting the unit to separate them.
However, in the conventional IC package mentioned above, the burn-in test or the like is usually carried out by using one IC socket for each independent IC package. And there have been no proposal to conduct the burn-in test for the long combined IC package unit comprising a plurality of IC packages, by accommodating a long electrical part such as the long combined IC package unit etc. on a plurality of IC sockets in such a manner as bridging the plurality of the IC sockets.
In this connection, Japanese Published Utility Patent No. Sho 61-1289 discloses an example of aligning a plurality of IC sockets in a line. But the prior art does not disclose the adjacently disposed IC socket comprising a plurality of IC sockets on which the long combined IC package unit is mounted to carry out performance testing of the IC packages simultaneously.
Further there have been no proposal for a set of IC sockets on which an ordinary independent IC package, which is not a long combined IC package unit comprising a plurality of IC packages mentioned above, is mounted over the IC sockets in such a manner as bridging the IC sockets of the set of IC sockets.